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In 1976, Carlo Cipolla, a professor of economic history, derived a social law, by which we can group people into four categories:
1976 年，经济史教授卡洛·奇波拉(Carlo Cipolla)得出了一条社会定律，根据该定律，我们可以将人分为四类：
The first he called "the helpless", the second are "the intelligent", the third are "the bandits", and the last are "the stupid".
第一类他称之为“无助者”，第二类是“聪明人”，第三类是“强盗”，最后一类是“蠢人”。
The stupid person is the most dangerous type of person, and in groups far more powerful than the Mafia, the Military or Communism, Cipolla warned.
奇波拉警告说，蠢人是最危险的人，而且他们所在的群体比黑手党、军队或共产主义势力要强大得多。
To arrive at this conclusion, we need to understand his 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.
要得出这个结论，我们需要理解他的“蠢人五大定律”。
1: Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
第一条定律：人们总是会低估周围活跃着的蠢人数量。
2: The probability that a person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. Education, wealth or status have nothing to do with it.
第二条定律：某个人是否愚蠢，与这个人身上的任何其它特征都没有关系。教育、财富或地位与此无关。
3: A stupid person is someone who causes losses to other people while himself deriving no gain.
第三条定律：蠢人就是损人不利己的人。
4: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid people and keep forgetting that to deal with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
第四条定律：蠢人的潜在危害往往会被低估，不愚蠢的人总是忘记与蠢人打交道总是代价高昂的错误。
5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person, even more dangerous than a bandit.
第五条定律：蠢人是最危险的一类人，甚至比强盗更危险。
Cipolla then considers four factors of human behavior. A person can cause benefits to others, benefits to themselves, losses to others and losses to themselves.
奇波拉随后考虑了人类行为的四个因素。一个人可以给别人带来好处，给自己带来好处，给他人带来损失，给自己带来损失。
If Tom takes an action and suffers a loss, he's helpless. If Tom benefits himself, while also benefiting Jerry, he's intelligent.
如果汤姆采取行动并遭受损失，他就是无助的人。如果汤姆让自己受益，同时也让杰瑞受益，那么他就是聪明人。
If Tom helps himself, but causes Jerry a loss, he's a bandit. And if Tom does something that's of no benefit to him, but causes Jerry a loss he's stupid.
如果汤姆帮助自己，但给杰瑞带来损失，那么他就是强盗。如果汤姆做的事情对他没有好处，但给杰瑞带来损失，那么他就是蠢人。
Ineffectual people are in the center. Let's now look at the effects of these groups on society.
无效的人处于中心。 现在让我们看看这些群体对社会的影响。
Helpless people contribute to society but are taken advantage of by others, especially bandits. And so their contribution is limited.
无助的人为社会做出贡献，但被其他人利用，尤其是被强盗利用。因此他们的贡献是有限的。
Note that extreme altruists or pacifists may willingly accept a place in this category for moral reasons.
请注意，极端利他主义者或和平主义者可能出于道德原因愿意接受属于这一类别。
Intelligent people contribute to society and leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits.
聪明人为社会做出贡献，并将他们的贡献转化为互惠利益。
Their actions lead to a net gain to society, which is why helpless people should always support intelligent ones.
他们的行为给社会带来了净收益，这就是为什么无助的人应该始终支持聪明人。
Bandits pursue their own self-interest and enrich themselves, even when doing so poses a harm to society.
强盗追求自己的私利并致富，即使这样做会对社会造成危害。
Helpless and intelligent people should try to stop them. Stupid people always contribute to a net loss to society. But not only that.
无助和聪明的人应该试图阻止他们。蠢人总是给社会带来净损失。但不仅如此。
As they do so for no obvious reason, their actions also frustrate, anger and confuse everyone else.
由于他们这样做没有明显的原因，他们的行为也让其他人感到沮丧、愤怒和困惑。
Against major cultural trends among his fellow intellectuals, Cipolla was convinced that men are not equal.
与他同行知识分子中的主流文化趋势相反，奇波拉坚信人与人并不平等。
That some are stupid and others are not, and that the difference is determined by nature and nothing else. One is stupid in the same way one is red-haired, he wrote.
有些人愚蠢，有些人不愚蠢，这种差异是由自然决定的，而不是其他原因。他写道，一个人的愚钝，就像一个人的红发一样，是天生的。
Cipolla warned that the damaging potential of the stupid person therefore depends on the amount of stupidity inherited, as well as their position of power in a society.
奇波拉警告说，蠢人的破坏力取决于遗传的愚蠢程度，以及他们在社会中的权力地位。
Among bureaucrats, generals and politicians one has little difficulty in finding clear examples of basically stupid individuals, whose damaging capacity was alarmingly enhanced by the position of the power they occupied.
在官僚、将军和政客中，不难找到明显的例子，他们基本上是蠢人，他们的破坏力因其所占据的权力地位而惊人地增强。
What are your thoughts on stupidity? Are people born or made stupid? Or is it, as usual, more complex, and is there an interrelationship between the two?
您对愚蠢有什么看法？人们是天生愚蠢还是后天形成的？还是像往常一样，它更复杂，两者之间有相互关系？
Share your thoughts, and read more about Cipolla's work and amusing essay — which originally was only intended for friends — in the descriptions below.
分享您的想法，并在以下描述中阅读更多关于奇波拉的作品和有趣的文章，最初仅供朋友阅读。
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如果您觉得这有帮助，请查看我们的其他视频并订阅。如果您想支持我们的工作，请加入我们的patreon.com/sprouts。
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